Chapter 63: A New Ally! The Connector of Animal Spirits!
Chapter 63 “A New Ally! The Connector of Animal Spirits!” My name is Kamon McFlinn. I am twenty-two years old. I like to duel it is my hobby. I won one big tournament and became in one shot a big celebrity. I dethroned the champion at that time, I became a champion. Now I do not know whether the celebrity-status is only because of that or because my father is one of the richest and powerfull man in the world. So in short, not too much to be filled in about me… I have a sister named Marcy, she is fourteen years old. I had another sister, named Merel; she died by falling out of a tree. I was on the phone; she was alone in the tree. I feel bad, I could have prevented her from falling. I was duelling one time. In the middle of the duel the opponent started to irritate me by going on about my sister and a rage overtook me, for me everything went blank and next thing I knew I was on the ground and the duellist, well, he was knocked unconscious. I have a few people I can really call best friends and one of them is Dragen. He and I were once an unbeatable duo in duelling. He returned two years ago to duel alongside me against Darknes. We were two of the Eight Chosen Ones. From those eight, we are left with three. Why? Two left, my best friend Sara, who was my personal assistant, left to set up McFlinn Corp Facilities in Europe. That`s a really good job for her. Lean went on a journey to Japan, something about finding hieroglyphs. I never knew he was into them, but nevertheless he went. Illian left with his new girlfriend to Europe as well, studying abroad. They hooked up just after the War against Darkness ended. Graem is a story apart. When the last duel of the War against Darknes had ended with a win for me, we rounded up survivors and Graem had disappeared. We did not find a trace of him anywhere, except for his pendant he always wears. He has been missing for two years now and it has been two years after the War against Darknes. The last one who left was Lainna. Dragen and I, in an early stage of the war, eventually travelled to a Different Dimension, to rescue Lean, Sara and Jen. Before we were able to, Darkness’ disciples took Dyllan and Illian. We found out they were being held by Pamadala, an evil spirit controlling Lainna at that time, which by now has been banished. I defeated Pamadala and we met Lainna. She helped us out together with Rontaro. Well, Rontaro is another weird thing that happened. At the day Lainna and Sara would leave, he disappeared. He disappeared completely and there was no evidence he ever existed. He disappeared completely. Well, I went to the University of Hisehade together with Dragen, I met Xander, who has an little sister called Sienna, who in turn is friends with Marcy. We became friends. RJ, an old friend of Dragen and me, returned to work for McFlinn Corp as a Junior Analyst. He went out with Merel, my sister who died. Anyway life went on, at least as normal as it could be……………… -------------------- “Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Hisehade Dueling Dome, one of the various arena’s that will host the Hisehade World Cup next year!” High above a dueling ring was a commentary box. Inside the commentary box, two men were posted. They were Tony Murray and Timothy Weatherly, renowned commentators in the International Duel Circuit. “Tonight we have the semi-final duel between dueling talent and known abilities,” the brown haired man bellowed into the microphone. “On one side this duel will feature the young and enigmatic new dueling sensation, controlling a rare and unique breed of Duel Monsters called the AniGuardians! He defeated his previous opponents within four rounds! Ladies and gentlemen! Dustin Connolly!” From the right side of the arena a young man appeared. He had brown hair that came down to his neck. He wore a green jacket with yellow accents and a few fang like pictures on it as well as black pants with one long stripe running down to his feet. “And in the other corner a duelist that has earned his stripes in the dueling competition. A duelist known for his abilities with a sword, ladies and gentlemen, a honor to introduce this man to you! Vinnie Darshell!” Tony, the other commentator in the commentary box shouted through the microphone. Dustin and the opponent, a buff man with a bald head and a goatee, moved towards each other as Vinnie started shuffling his deck before hand. They met each other in the middle of the arena as Dustin extended his hand, but Vinnie didn’t. “Oh come on,” Dustin whispered to the man. “Don’t be such a party pooper.” “I am no party pooper … I simply don’t like shaking hands with minor characters.” “I am no … wait what?!” Dustin reacted angrily at the egoism of Vinnie. “What the hell are you talking about?” He then looked at Vinnie’s head. “And what the hell happened to your hair?” “Don’t mess with my awesome baldness as my baldness will shine on you when the victory is in my hands!” Vinnie looked to the side as the referee came up to them, extending his arms and Vinnie was the first to place his deck in the hands of the referee. “Time to lose, shorty.” “Grrrrr,” Dustin placed his deck in the other hand of the referee who then nodded and both duelists toke their opponent’s deck from the referee, starting to shuffle and cut it. They then returned the decks to the referee who nodded againa and the decks were returned to their respective owners. “It will be your bald head that the sign of defeat will be lit upon!” -------------------- “Great the trash talk has already started.” In the seats of the stands in the arena, Dragen Kando was sitting and watching the two duelists interact with each other. He was sitting next to a girl with long brown hair and glasses and next to that girl Dyllan was seated. “Hey Arabelle,” Dyllan began against the girl. “Did Kamon say whether he would come and watch or not?” “He decided not to come and watch to give Dustin a fair fight in the final. He believes Dustin will be the one fighting in the final, not this Vinnie character,” Arabelle quickly spoke, a bit jumpy that she was so informally adressed. “Oh cool down,” Dragen spoke to the girl. “You were given a day off by Kamon to go with us and see this match.” “I know … but still…” “Oh come on,” Dragen continued and turned to her. “You have been … what now? … one and a half year the assistant of Kamon and you still believe you need to prove yourself?” “Well people tend to make fun of me in the work place cause I have a hobby with dolls and masks…” “Well that is just creepy I agree,” Dyllan interjected and after a look of Dragen, continued. “But I suppose everybody can have a hobby.” “Dragen!” Dragen, Dyllan and Arabelle turned to the source of the voice, which was a pretty young girl with long black hair. She was dressed in a blue tank top and green shorts. It was Julia, who was since four months Dragen’s girlfriend. Dragen stood up, walked over to her and kissed her on her cheek. “Hey love,” Dragen smiled as he put his hand on her waist. “I was hoping you would show up soon.” “I don’t want to miss these finals!” “Shhhh,” Dyllan hissed and Dragen and Julia turned around, sitting down next to them. “The semi final is about to begin.” ----------------------- “This is it!” Timothy spoke through the microphone in the commentary box and he and Tony both looked down into the arena. “The semi-final match is about to begin! Duelists are you ready? Let’s rumble!” “Duel!” Dustin – 4000 Vinnie – 4000 “I’ll start out,” Dustin shifted off the first card from his deck and placed it in his hand. “I start of with the spell card Favor Tree, which allows me to add one level four or below AniGuardian monster from my deck to my hand.” He searched his deck for a specific card and added it to his hand. “An AniGuardian searcher, ladies and gentlemen!” Tony excitedly threw into the crowd. “What can we expect more?” “Well Tony, as it is only his first move we have no idea…” Timothy intervened. “I added AniGuardian – Wise Tiger (1500/1000) from my deck to my hand,” Dustin shortly flashed the card to Vinnie. “Next up, AniGuardian – Fenx Firuh (1000/1000) summon!” A firey phoenix-like bird appeared on his field. “By discarding one card from my hand I can deal you 500 points of damage!” Vinnie – 4000 -> 3500 “Next I finish my turn with activating this continuous spell card, Emblem of the Ash, which when I control only one copy, I can activate Fenx Firuh’s effect again!” Dustin smirked as he placed another card in his graveyard. “Okey, you kid … you have some skill,” Vinnie admitted. Vinnie – 3500 -> 3000 “I end my turn now,” Dustin lowered his duel disk. “It is time to see what you can do!” “Will do,” Vinnie swiftly drew his new card. “I summon Celtic Guardian (1400/1200) to the field!” The elfish green-brown armored warrior appeared on the field, drawing his weapon from the sheath. “I use Fenx Firuh’s effect to discard one more card from my hand to deal you 500 life point of damage,” Dustin placed a new card from his hand in the graveyard and fire hit Vinnie. Vinnie – 3000 -> 2500 “I equip Blaze Blade to Celtic Guardian!” Vinnie followed up on the summoning of his warrior. “This card increases its power by 300 (ATK / DEF = 1400/1200 -> 1700/1500) but also ignores the battle damage involving it. Instead, it deals half of the equipped monster’s attack power to you as damage.” “Oh great.” “Next stop, Double Summon,” Vinnie inserted his new card. “Summon forth Command Knight (1200/1900) in defense mode.” A red armored warrior lady appeared on his field and a golden aura surrounded Celtic Guardian. “By its effect, all warriors gain 400 attack points (Command Knight ATK = 1200 -> 1600 / Celtic Guardian ATK = 1700 -> 2100). Now to continue to the battle phase.Celtic Guardian destroy his Fenx Firuh!” “No,” Dustin countered and his graveyard lit. “This spell card activates when in the graveyard and during the battle phase. Extinct Guardian. By sending one AniGuardian monster from my graveyard to the graveyard, I can Special Summon my Fenx Firuh during the End Phase.” “But you still lose damage equal to half of my Celtic Guardian’s power!” Dustin – 4000 -> 2950 “Yes,” Dustin looked at the Command Knight. “Yes I did.” “Now I still have Command Knight’s attack. Attack him directly!” Vinnie ordered as the blonde haired knight struck Dustin and Dustin did not respond this time with a card. Dustin – 2950 -> 1350 “I now do end my turn,” Vinnie lowered his duel disk and looked at Dustin. “I have heard of these AniGuardian cards, and I do have to admit they are pretty good.” “Start turn,” Dustin shifted off a new card from his deck. “During my Draw Phase I can discard three cards from my deck to Special Summon AniGuardian – Aero Garudon (1200/700) to the field.” An eagle appeared on his field. “Card of Sanctity activate! We both draw until we hold six cards.” He placed an entire new hand in his hand. “Next I summon AniGuardian – Rainbow Butterfly (1200/800).” A colorful butterfly with extraordinary large wings appeared on his field. “When succesfully summoned, I can double my life points.” Dustin – 1350 -> 2700 “None of your monsters are powerful enough to face mine yet.” “Yet indeed,” Dustin acknowledged. “But I have my reasons. Enter Battle Phase. Rainbow Butterfly! Attack his Command Knight! Shining Wing of Lights!” “Why would you do that? Celtic Guardian counter attack!” Vinnie ordered, but knew something was wrong when he saw Dustin smiling. Rainbow Butterfly did explode into light and Celtic Guardian was left untouched, but Aero Garudon became stronger. Dustin – 2700 -> 2300 “When Rainbow Butterfly is destroyed in battle, I can double the attack power of one AniGuardian monster on the field until the beginning of my next turn. Aero Garudon gains thereby a power up (ATK: 1200 -> 2400). Now Aero Garudon, your turn! DestroyCeltic Guardian!” Dustin commanded as the eagle struck the warrior, instantly destroying it. Vinnie – 2500 -> 2200 “Now I end my turn.” “I begin my turn,” Vinnie started his turn with drawing a new card of course. “I use Reinforcement of the Army, allowing me to add one level four or lower warrior type monster from my deck to my hand.” He searched his deck and added the card to the hand. “I send one card from my hand,” Dustin placed a new card from his hand in his graveyard. “And deal you 500 points of damage!” Vinnie – 2200 -> 1700 “I remove my Reinforcement of the Army spell card from the graveyard from play to Special Summon my Spell Striker (600/200 -> 900/200)!” Vinnie kicked as the tiny warrior with the cartoonesque shield and sword appeared. “Now Command Knight attack his Fenx Firuh!” Dustin – 2300 -> 1900 “Spell Striker strike Dustin directly!” Dustin – 1900 -> 1000 “I set two cards now,” Vinnie dropped two cards into his duel disk and looked at Dustin. “And I end my turn.” ------------------------ “Vinnie has him pretty good,” Dragen spoke, while Dyllan returns to the stands with pop corn and soda. “Though they do have only a difference of 700 life points…” “Did I miss something?” Dyllan asked Dragen, while he sat down next to Dragen. “What I was about to say before big guy interrupted me here,” Dragen followed up on what he started before. “They only have a difference of 700 life points, but with a direct attack of Vinnie next turn, Dustin will be at only 400 left.” “So? 400 is more then enough to battle through with,” Dyllan countered and Dragen nodded. “I have seen you win a battle with only 200 life points.” “And that was because I helped him,” Julia smirked while stroking through Dragen’s hair. Arabelle who was still seated between Dragen and Kamon’s younger sister Marcy, sighed and looked down on the field. “Remember Dragen?” “Yeah yeah,” Dragen attempted to change the subject. “Yeah you helped me.” “Like when I helped you to get a date …” “Shhhh,” Dragen hissed and Julia looked at both of them. “What is it?” “Dyllan helped you get a date with me?” Julia wondered and Dragen smirked. “Is that true?” “Well kinda,” Dragen admitted with a wide smile. “After all when I tried getting a date with you through your friend Jackie, but Illian kinda screwed that up.” “Well that was back then,” Julia confronted him with it. “You do know Illian and Jackie are now travelling through Japan right?” “Yeah,” Dragen nodded and he looked back on the field. “Oh look, Dustin’s about to make his move!” --------------------------- “Start turn,” Dustin pulled his next card from his deck. “I summon forth AniGuardian – Wise Tiger (1500/1000) to the field!” Dustin’s favorite monster appeared on the field, spreading open his beak and showing off his sharp teeth. “A tiger this time…” “Yes, however since my Emblem of the Ash is kinda useless now I have no Fenx Firuh on the field anymore, I tribute it to activate the following spell card Rite of Nature,” Dustin shoved the next card into his duel disk. “Rite of Nature, when properly activated, allows me to seek out one Emblem card from my deck and shuffle my deck afterwards.” “So what was the use of that?” “I am not done, first I use my Wise Tiger’s effect to cut his attack power in half and attack you directly!” Dustin ordered as the tiger struck forward, hitting Vinnie with both paws. Vinnie – 1700 -> 950 “And to follow up,” Dustin dropped a new spell card in his duel disk. “Emblem of the Sharp Claw activate. When added to my hand by Rite of Nature I gain 500 life points.” Dustin – 1000 -> 1500 “Also once per turn by Emblem of the Sharp Claw’s effect I place one Counter on Wise Tiger. This also allows me to increase my Aero Garudon’s attack power by 200 (ATK: 1200 -> 1400),” Dustin lowered his duel disk. “I end my turn now.” “Draw card,” Vinnie started his turn. ‘''He has his field set up, but I can outpower him.’ “Since it is your Standby Phase, I can activate the trap card Nature Sense. I can drop the attack power of all monsters by the attack power of an AniGuardian monster of my choice. I choose Wise Tiger!” Command Knight – 1600 ATK -> 100 ATK Spell Striker – 900 ATK -> 0 ATK “Now you cannot hurt me with Spell Striker directly!” “However,” Vinnie pulled both cards from his deck and slammed a new monster card onto his field. “I tribute both monsters to Tribute Summon Gaia The Fierce Knight (2300/2200)!” The legendary knight on the horse appeared. “Now, try stop this!” “Gaia The Fierce Knight? You do know we have cards like Swift Gaia The Fierce Knight and such?” “Yes, but I prefer old guys,” Vinnie thrusted his hand forward. “Gaia, attack his Aero Garudon! Spiral Spinner!” Aero Garudon was hit by both lances. Dustin – 1500 -> 600 “And now I have more life points again!” Vinnie claimed in extatic state. “But for how long?” “Anyway,” Vinnie tapped a button on his duel disk. “I activate this card, Warrior Armory, which allows me to send up to three equip spell cards from my hand to the graveyard to add the same number of equip spell cards from my deck or graveyard to my hand. I discard two.” He picked Blaze Blade from his graveyard and a card from his deck. “I now end my turn.” “Draw card,” Dustin began. “Now at the beginning of this turn I place one more counter on Emblem of the Sharp Claw and increase my Aero Garudon’s power once more (ATK: 1400 -> 1600)!” “Quick Play Spell Card,” Vinnie punched a button on his duel disk as a spell card appeared in front of him. “Dark Wall of Wind. During this turn I do not lose life points if you declare a direct attack.” ‘''Great, no direct damage for Wise Tiger then,’ Dustin growled and he looked at the Wise Tiger. ‘''Not that I was aiming for that…''’ “So no Wise Tiger direct attack for you!” “I send AniGuardian – Wise Tiger and Emblem of the Sharp Claw from my field to the graveyard!” The tiger was surrounded by light and transformed in a larger tiger, twice the size of the Wise Tiger. “Now I can Fusion Summon AniGuardian Guide – Tigraros (2000/1000) to the field!” “AniGuardian Guide?” “The next stage of spiritual evolution of my AniGuardian monsters! Now by Tigraros’ effect, it gains 300 attack points for every Counter placed on Wise Tiger (ATK: 2000 -> 2600),” Dustin informed his opponent. “Not only that Tigraros cannot be destroyed when I control another AniGuardian monster.” “Great…” “Now I call the attack on you with Tigraros! Silver Claw Sweep!” Dustin ordered as the tiger hit the knight on the horse, destroying it. Vinnie – 950 -> 650 “Now I end my turn.” ‘''Damn, that kid is good,’ Vinnie sighed. ‘''He was ready in any case I would stop his tiger from attacking directly. Maybe he would’ve waited another turn before summoning this Tigraros.’ “Seems Dustin has hit Vinnie good!” Tony shouted from the commentary box and he and Tim were both standing to get a better look at the dueling field. “What comeback will he make?” “Monster Reborn!” Vinnie dropped the card into his duel disk. “Return to me! Gaia The Fierce Knight (2300/2000)!” The knight came back from the summoning portal. “Next stop Polymerization! I fuse Gaia The Fierce Knight with Curse of Dragon to create Gaia the Dragon Champion (2600/2100)!” The knight’s horse disappeared and the knight sprung up, lowering himself afterwards on a yellow dragon that had appeared on the field, creating the dragon champion. “I also equip my Dragon Champion with Lightning Blade, increasing his power by another 800 (ATK: 2600 -> 3400)!” One of Gaia’s spears was replaced by a short sword. “And to do another source of damage, I activate Spiral Spear Strike. When I succesfully inflict battle damage, I draw two cards and discard one. In case something might happen.” “Sure…” Dustin seemed impressed. “Gaia the Dragon Champion! Attack his AniGuardian Guide – Tigraros! Finish this battle!” Vinnie ordered and the dragon knight flew forward, but his attack was intercepted. “What?!” Dustin – 600 -> 300 “You should have lost and your monster and all of your life points!” “Almost correct,” Dustin revealed as the smoke cleared. A german shepherd like dog monster with a farmer with a staff was standing in front of the AniGuardian Guide monster. “I summon Gate Herder (0/0) to intercept the damage, instead halving my life points and not destroying my AniGuardian Guide monster!” “What?!” Vinnie widened his eyes. “Wait what?!” “Thats right!” Dustin looked at the new monster. ‘''However it is in attack mode. If I do not defeat him during the next turn, my life points are toast… and me too.’ “I end my turn.” “My turn then,” Dustin shifted off the next card from his deck. ‘''Just what I need.’ “Well do I get my victory then?” “Well no,” Dustin admitted and he placed a card in his duel disk. “I now summon forth AniGuardian – Umaia Unicor (1200/1800)!” A silver-golden haired unicorn appeared on the field. “However with the normal summon of Umaia Unicor, I can activate this spell card Allegro Toile!” “What?” “Allegro Toile allows me when I have normal summoned a monster to destroy one spell or trap card you control!” Dustin pointed at Vinnie’s Lightning Blade. “So you can say good bye against your blade!” “No!” “Yes!” “Oh come on!” Vinnie looked how the blade disappeared and the spear was returned to Gaia’s hand. “I can’t lose to a minor character!” “I am not a…” Dustin shook his head and looked at Tigraros. ‘''I am sorry pal, but in order to win I need to do this.’ ''Do not worry Dustin, the eyes of the tiger turned to him and he showed his fangs. We are all with you, always. “AniGuardian Guide – Tigraros! Attack his Gaia the Dragon Champion!” Dustin ordered as the tiger launched itself from the ground hitting the dragon knight directly, destroying and sacrificing itself at the same time. “My Dragon Champion…” “And with Umaia Unicor’s attack,” Dustin thrusted his hand forward. “You are done. Umaia Unicor! Silver Horn Attack!” The horn hit the opponent in the chest. Vinnie – 650 -> 0 “I won,” Dustin concluded and Vinnie looked up to him. Dustin extended his hand. “Oh great,” Vinnie sighed and looked at the hand Dustin offered him. “I have to admit, you are skilled kid, but in order to defeat your opponent in the final, you’ll need a lot more then that.” “I know.” Vinnie accepted Dustin’s hand and shook it, before leaving the arena. The people in the stands cheered both for him and Dustin. “Well ladies and gentlemen! That was that! Dustin Connoly has won his semi-final match against Vinnie!” Tim sounded amused through the microphone. “Tomorrow the big final will take place. And we all know what that means, it is time for the big guys to play!” -------------------------- “So,” everybody turned to the left on the stands, seeing Kamon approach the group. “Is he any good?” “You could say that,” Dragen told his best friend. “Not that he literally wiped the floor with his opponent, but he is good. He might be a real match for you.” “We’ll see,” Kamon smiled as he placed his dueling deck in his deck box on his belt. “We’ll see tomorrow how good he really is.” Kamon and Dragen lead the group away as the crowd was still cheering for Dustin and in lesser terms for Vinnie. Dustin had positioned himself in the middle of the arena as he waved at the people around him. He turned around and looked directly at the stands where Kamon and the others were previously. ‘''You are mine, Kamon McFlinn, I have waited for this a long time, I have trained for this a long time, and now we are going to have our match!’ Dustin smirked and he looked at his deck, hearing a distant growl. ‘''And I promise you, my friends, we will find our friends back.’ To be continued… RANDOM DARK DUELIST TRIVIA: I decided to rewrite Chapter 63 out of total boredom. When I started the duel, I realized I could not stop anyway. Except for the cards, not much changed from the original outline of Chapter 63. More may follow, but this will go on a undecided schedule. This one will also replace the original Chapter 63 in the Episode Guide line-up. AniGuardian – Fenx Firuh, Umaia Unicor and Aero Garudon were edited by ShadowBlade, the names originally were thought of by me. Emblem of the Ashes is created by ShadowBlade, as well as Nature Sense and Favor Tree. Since I came up with the AniGuardian cards, we agreed that we both could make use of the cards we both created for the archetype. I have some new things in the set-up: - Chapter 113/114: This double episode will indeed feature the two kids I introduced in the final scene of chapter 112 against Raven. The duel is far from done, but I expect it won’t take long for me to finish it. - A second OVA involving a mysterious threatening man who will pick up a duel against Kamon and Dragen, while threatening the city with chaos. (sounds cheesy I know, but this is connected with Entry 02) - More rewritten Season 1 chapters. - Maybe a Capsule Monsters sidestory on TDDS (I have attempted it before, but didn’t work out. - An Origins Saga. You may have seen the Season 0 tidbit in the Episode Guide, I am seriously considering doing that once, giving more background on the characters. I’ll see what I work on first (probably 113/114). Anyway, until then!